Museum of Flight’s Great Gallery

1/17/25 Museum of Flight (Most of the aircraft were sketched from the upper level. I glued in a piece of my wristband to fill the long, horizontal space at the bottom of this page -- an ideal spot for a bit of collage. )

I made this small page to catch a couple of sketchers.

As I walked into the Great Gallery, it felt like it had been ages since I last sketched at the Museum of Flight. Indeed, I missed last year’s USk outing there, so the last time for me was in 2019. I had skipped sketching in the Great Gallery altogether that time, so on Friday I spent the whole USk outing there. The largest gallery, it’s also the most intimidating – lots and lots of planes and other aircraft covering the floor and hanging from the ceiling.

Instead of making portraits of individual aircraft as I’ve always done before, I made small vignettes to tell the wider story of the museum atmosphere. Truth be told, it was also much easier to make thumbnail-size sketches rather than page spreads trying to get a whole jet’s wingspan to fit. Lazy or smart? You decide. In any case, I had a ball!

Many thanks to Kate, a long-time volunteer, for offering Urban Sketchers free guest passes to the museum.

The larger and more intimidating the space, the smaller I sketch!

BIG Play Date

 

1/15/25 Third Place Commons (Neopastels)

Inktense Blocks

For most of a year now, I’ve been exploring a comics approach to on-location sketching (and thinking in terms of comics in general). I still love it, and there’s still much to learn and try. But I’ve lately been feeling constricted by my small sketchbook format made even tighter by the multi-panel approach. Each sketch ends up being only two or three inches, which requires using finer media and small spots of color. I’ve been craving BIG! Or at least bigger.

The thing is, I don’t like using thick, soft media when I’m sketching on location in my usual manner: standing. I need a table for support so that I can apply pressure to a larger page, which limits the places I can use them. But winter is when I spend the most time sketching indoors in cafes and such, so it’s a good time to go big and chunky.

I knew that they had both been using them lately, so for our next play date, I proposed to Roy and Mary Jean that we all bring our fat media: Crayons, pastels, chunky water-soluble sticks. I hoped that hanging around with them as they used theirs would encourage me.

And it did! With all of us spreading our toys out on a large, round table at Third Place Commons, I had no trouble jumping into the thick of things, so to speak. I used Caran d’Ache Neopastel oil pastels (which I had previously tried only on portraits) and Derwent Inktense Blocks. Next time, I think I’ll bring some Caran d’Ache Neocolor II water-soluble crayons.

Nothing like chunky toys and inspiring playmates to kill the winter blahs!

Inktense Blocks

Our playground!

Fog Season

 

1/15/25 Maple Leaf neighborhood

This time of year, we can usually rely on morning fog. I say “morning” because typically it burns off by noon, but that part has become less dependable. The day I sketched this, the fog hung around like a heavy, wet blanket until the sun went down at 4:46 p.m.  Short days, damp air, cold temps – spring feels far away.

Bits and Pieces of My Days

 

1/7/25 Caffe Fiore, Sunset Hill neighborhood

As mentioned in a previous post, one reason I think my sketch journaling process has finally “stuck” is that I am not trying to stay within a specific format or approach. Drawing from life, from photos, from memory – it’s all good. By far, my favorite approach is the multi-panel, on-location comics format (like the one above). It always feels loose and liberating while paradoxically having a small element of tension: I have chosen a location (a café table), but I never know if I’ll have enough scenes to fill several panels from that spot. Meanwhile, I might be documenting something I want to remember that day (often a record of my downsizing activities).

On another day recently (below), I had gotten together with a couple of sketcher friends, all of us intending to sketch, but our conversation became so interesting that I never got past my pastry. (I wasn’t disappointed, though – it was a great discussion!)

1/3/25 still lives; photo reference

That evening, I didn’t want a page spread with nothing but my Macrina morning roll on it, so I added a couple of unrelated sketches (though related to what I was doing or thinking about that day). I didn’t leave myself space to write much, but the sketches are enough to prompt the memories. I also enjoyed putting a bit of thought into making the page look cohesive and “finished” with the broken borders around some elements. I don’t always care about finishing a page, but sometimes it’s a fun challenge.

Below is another example of an assembled page spread that documents my day in bits and pieces instead of one location. Before the USk sketch outing at US Bank Centre, I had enough time to make a quick stop at Pike Place Market. After I finished my errand, it was still early enough in the morning that I had a clear view of Rachel the Pig, a Market mascot, near the famous salmon-throwing fishmongers. (By the time I was finishing the sketch, the mongers started tossing and shouting, and suddenly my view was obstructed with excited tourists. It was nice to enjoy a rare deserted moment for as long as it lasted.) The rest of the spread includes my dessert with sketcher friends after the outing and my Market shopping. This spread was more satisfying to make than the previous one because I could sketch all of the elements live and not from photos.

1/11/25 Pike Place Market; Kastoori Grill; still life

Most of these types of pages are “rewards” for downsizing and home-improvement tasks accomplished. Other times, the reward is simply sharing a meal and sketching with a friend – that’s always reward enough.

1/8/25 Samurai Ramen and Jolli Daze, Chinatown International District

12/27/25 Swansons Nursery Cafe

1/10/25 ProShred in Tukwila

The last sketch shown at right is not in the comics format, but it’s the culmination of the focus of my most recent arduous tasks: I finally hauled all the paper and hard drives to a shredding/data destruction company. Making this sketch of the facility was visually brushing the dust from my hands – DONE!

At Least it’s Not Snow

 

1/13/25 Maple Leaf neighborhood

With only a few minutes before I was due in a Zoom meeting with my tax guy, I grabbed this small sketch of the morning fog. The temperature was 38 degrees. When I took a walk after lunch, the temperature was only a few degrees warmer, and the fog remained thick. Nothing like walking in cold, damp air to make me grateful that at least it isn’t snow and ice.

Happy Hour with Lindi Moo

 

1/9/25 Lindi Moo performing at Aegis Living

When one of the caregivers mentioned to me with obvious excitement that Lindi Moo would be providing the “happy hour” entertainment, I had to admit I had never heard of her. The local vocalist is apparently a popular choice for retirement community entertainment, and rightly so – her repertoire includes many well-known hits from the ‘50s and ‘60s that are easy to sing along to. She offers shakers, hand blocks and jingly bells to audience members who want to accompany her with percussion. Best of all, she always performs while wearing cow-patterned clothing.

While Greg and his cohorts enjoyed their happy hour snacks, and some sang along, I happily sketched Lindi. It was a happy hour for all.

US Bank Centre Another Winter Mainstay

 

1/11/25 US Bank Centre second level

Sometime during the pandemic, the US Bank Centre building’s lobby underwent a huge remodel – so much so that I didn’t recognize it as a place we had sketched back in 2017. Interestingly, though, the view from one of the second floor windows was vaguely familiar, and that’s because I had sketched it back then, too! It’s funny how the compositions that had attracted me then still do now. In any case, the multiple levels that are open to the public gave USk Seattle many places to settle into cozy seating with their beverages from Olympia Coffee on a chilly morning. We’re happy to have another winter mainstay!

I enjoyed sketching these backlit people from the mezzanine level.

Look at the turnout!